Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Panel presentation. This study uses cross-sectional data from the 1988 wave of mothers (n=1,280) matched with their school-age children from 5 through 9 years (n=2,414). The mothers 21-29, and their children 0-18+, who have been interview every two years since 1986 through 1992 resulting in a total of 4 waves to date.

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

Changes in the labor market over the past 25 years, including overall wage stagnation and increases in inequality, may affect retirement prospects for the baby boom cohorts. Using data from National Longitudinal Surveys of Mature Women and Young Women, we compare income trajectories for families from the baby boom birth cohorts with families from earlier cohorts. Our findings suggest that the overall retirement prospects of Baby Boomers are no worse than the prospects faced by cohorts born 20 years earlier. Adjusting for inflation and differences in family size, mean family income at midlife was higher for women born after World War II than for women born in the 1920s and 1930s, primarily because of increasing labor force participation by married women and declining family sizes. However, retirement outcomes for particular subgroups, namely single men and those with limited education, are unlikely to match outcomes experienced by their parents' generation.

Permission to reprint the abstract has not been received from the publisher.

The purpose of this study is to explore and compare longitudinally the differences in labor market outcomes and economic well-being of the baby boom cohorts born between 1944 and 1953 and the experiences of age cohorts born between 1923 and 1937. In particular, the study is motivated by the possible impact of the ?period effects? of baby boomers entering the labor market at a time when wage growth slowed and when wage inequality increased, particularly among less skilled male workers. It explores the consequences these experiences may have on baby boomers? long-term economic prospects.

Bibliography Citation

Crystal, Stephen and Richard W. Johnson. "The Changing Retirement Prospects of American Families: Impact of Labor Market Shifts on Economic Outcomes." Report, No. 9801, American Association of Retired Persons, The Public Policy Institute, January 1998.

Data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Older Men were used to estimate economic inequality within three 5-year cohorts as they moved from midlife to later life. The Gini index of inequality increased steadily after age 59, supporting the hypothesis that within-cohort inequality increases in late life. However, a transition analysis found considerable mobility in relative status for individuals over a 15-year period. These results suggest the need to develop a longitudinal perspective on later-life economic status which distinguishes between individual-level and population-level outcomes and identifies the life events and characteristics of individuals that predict changes in economic status. Further research is needed on the processes which lead to later-life inequality, and on the distributional impact of public and private pension policies.